The present invention relates to an input unit having the same function as a mouse and to an information processing unit equipped with such an input unit. In particular, it relates to a technology for rendering the input unit foldable and improving its mountability and portability.
In general, a mouse is used as a supplemental input means of a desktop personal computer. The mouse usually has a half-oval shape comprised of gentle curves and a size to be wrapped in a palm. A computer incorporating a GUI (graphical user interface) can be mostly operated by the mouse.
On the other hand, a pointing device for performing the same operations as the mouse without using one is used in the case of a notebook-sized personal computer. For instance, it has a pad section on a computer main unit, where a pointer such as an arrow is moved by tracing the pad section with a finger and operations such as selection are performed by clicking on buttons placed close to the pad section or by double-clicking on the pad. In addition, there are also ones configured so that a projection is provided in a keyboard layout and the pointer moves in a direction of power applied to the projection. Such pointing devices improve mountability to the notebook-sized personal computer so as to release a user from inconvenience of having to carry the mouse with a system.
However, the functions of these pointing devices are not as easy to use as those of the mouse so that there are users who want to use the mouse with the notebook-sized personal computer. It is necessary to improve the portability of the mouse in order to use it with the notebook-sized personal computer. As an idea of solving the inconvenience of carrying the mouse, for instance, the technology of the Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 09-244805 or the Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2000-105631 shows a configuration wherein the mouse can be incorporated into a housing of the notebook-sized personal computer for storage.
However, the mouse itself utilized in the technology described in the above described patent applications is one of a conventional configuration and is not configured to be stored inside the notebook-sized personal computer. Thus, it is necessary to carry the mouse separately from the computer. On the other hand, it is difficult to secure space for storing the conventional mouse in the notebook-sized personal computer that is increasingly becoming smaller and lower-profile.
A purpose of the present invention is to provide an input unit having the same functions as a conventional mouse and still higher operability allowing the inconvenience of carrying it to be eliminated or reduced. Another purpose of the present invention is to provide an information processing unit equipped with such an input unit.